Pack Meets Flock
by kelphead2
Summary: crossover between James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" series and Kathy Reichs's "Virals" series.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Tory's P.O.V.**

"Cooper!" I shouted, now getting desperate. My wolfdog was nowhere to be found. Missing. AWOL.  
"Any sign of him?" Ben is almost never nervous, but now he was starting to act a little edgy.  
I sighed, tears starting to streak down my face. "None."  
Hi and Shelton remained silent. They understood what I did. Without Coop, our pack couldn't be complete. Finally, Shelton spoke up. "We should-"  
His words were drowned out by a black chopper appearing over the dunes. A man was hanging on the door. No, not a man. More like a wolf.  
"What is that? Hi asked. Whatever it was, I had a feeling we wouldn't be friends.  
"Tory Brennan!" he shouted, his voice really loud. "And the rest of the pack is with you, too!"  
I tensed. If this guy knew my name, he wasn't a friend. "What do you want?" I snarled.  
He snarled back, "If you want to see your wolfdog again, you and your friends are coming with me!"  
"Fine!" I shouted. Then, to my pack, "He has Cooper. But not for long." The boys grinned, and climbed into the large helicopter. I hoped Coop was okay.

 **And yes, I know how bad this is, but this is the first chapter of fan fiction I ever wrote. My writing gets better later on in the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Max's POV**

Here we are, back at the School. We were captured by Erasers for some new experiment. Something to do with canine DNA. But they just left us there, no experiments whatsoever. Then I overheard whitecoats talking about starting the experiment tomorrow. Great. It's all my fault.

"It's not your fault, Max." Angel, the youngest of the flock, has the strangest powers. One of them is reading minds.

"Angel, two words: privacy please. Now how about helping me get out of here?"

The door opened. An eraser walked in, carrying a dog crate in his arms. I heard growling from the crate. Then a voice.

"Let us go, mutt face!"

The Eraser just laughed. "Shut up! Or the wolfdog dies."

Wolfdog?

The girl stopped yelling, but the growling continued. The Eraser threw the cage, and it landed next to me. Then three more Erasers came in, each carrying another dog crate. They threw theirs in the room, then shut the door.

I looked at my flock. Nudge, Fang, and Gazzy were staring at the newcomers. Angel was staring intensely at the girl's cage, trying to read her mind. Iggy- well, he's blind, but he heard enough to know what was going on.

An uncomfortable silence settled through the room as the two groups analyzed each other. There were four of them: the girl, and three boys. Suddenly, Angel gasped. "What is it, sweetie?" I asked. She looked absolutely terrified.

Finally, she spoke. "I looked in her mind, Max. The things I saw..." She shuddered. "I saw her looking at the other three. But... their eyes were golden."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Tory's P.O.V.**

Wait, she read my mind? Creepy. "You know," I told them, "if you want to talk without letting me hear, talk quietly."

The older one, Max, scowled at me. It was obvious she considered me a threat.

But they were just as much of a threat to us as we were to them. If the girl can read minds, what can Max and the others do?

"Max," the girl persisted. "She's catching on."

Max grimaced. "I didn't need that, Angel."

I began to understand. I looked at the girl, Angel, and wondered if I was right. She nodded, as if to say, _'Yes, we are.'_ Wait a moment. She did say that. But that just gave me more proof that I was correct.

"You guys are too." I addressed Max. "Genetically messed up, right?"

She looked between me and Angel, no doubt wondering how much she told me. Finally, she answered. "Yes."

Someone asked, "What? How are you a mutant? What did they inject you guys with? What are those wolf things?"

I sighed. It was Hiram. Nobody else would ask questions like that.

Max answered every one. "It's true, we all have wings, nothing, and those are Erasers."

"How do we know you're not lying?" Ben. Typical for him to say.

Max looked at the four of us, then at her group. Angel gave her the thumbs up. Max steeled herself, as if preparing to do something stupid. Then, she showed us her wings.

I heard Hi gasp and Shelton mutter, "Incredible." I was close enough to touch them. They felt, well, like normal wings. But they weren't. They belonged to Max.

"What about you guys?" asked a dark haired boy. In fact everything about him was dark, except for his skin, which was pale.

I glanced at Ben, and I'm pretty sure he was thinking the same thing: Should we? I nodded. Ben grimaced, but silently agreed.

"Well," I began, "it all started last May, when Cooper here was given a strain of Parvovirus XPB-19."

"Cooper?" asked Max. At this, Cooper barked.

"My wolfdog."

"Oh." Max still looked confused.

"Anyways, apparently this parvo could also infect humans, thus creating the Virals."

Silence spread through the room. Max's group was staring at us, taking it in. Hi was shaking his head, Shelton was still fixating his eyes on Max's wings, and Ben caught my eye and nodded.

"Did I miss anything?" I asked my pack. They shook their heads.

"Wait a moment," a girl asked. "You guys have wolf powers, but you're not Erasers?"

I knew how to answer this. "Yes. When we flare, we don't turn into bloodthirsty idiots who haven't discovered the magic of shaving." Everyone cracked up.

"So," Angel prompted, "you call it flaring?"

"Yeah," I answered, "and we should probably flare now. It'll help us get out of here."

"Hold up!" Hi raised a hand, pointing it at Max. "We don't know who they are!"

Max looked astonished. "We forgot to introduce ourselves?"

I sighed. "It seems so."

"I'll go first," Max said. "My name is Maximum Ride, but you can call me Max. I'm the leader of the flock."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Max's P.O.V.**

"I'm Fang."

"I'm Nudge. My real name is Monique, but I like Nudge better."

"I'm Iggy, and I'm blind."

"I'm Gazzy. Don't ask."

"I'm Angel, Gazzy's sister."

My flock introduced themselves. The others sat there, listening intently. Finally, the girl said, "My name's Tory."

"I'm Ben," the oldest boy said.

"I'm Shelton."

"My name's Hi."

We sat there, not knowing what to say. Until an Eraser came in.

"Experiment 58," he said, "you're coming with me."

He grabbed Tory's cage. She tried to punch him, screaming, "You idiot! I'm not an experiment!"

The door slammed behind them. "What's gonna happen to her?" Ben cried. "What are they gonna do?"

I looked at him sadly. "I don't know, Ben. I don't know."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Ben's P.O.V.**

"What's gonna happen to her?" I cried. "Where are they taking her?"

"I don't know Ben." Max said sadly. "I don't know."

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

A few hours later, an Eraser entered, carrying a limp Tory in his arms. She looked almost nothing like herself. Her red hair was stuck to her face with blood.

Anger churned inside me. I almost flared right then, but one look at Tory and I knew I had to wait.

"Tory!" Shelton had recognized her. "What did they do to you?"

Tory didn't answer. The Eraser gently lay her in the empty dog crate, then turned to me. "I didn't want to do this," he said.

I was stunned. Then furious. "If you were the one who made her like this, I swear I'll-" I couldn't think of a satisfying torture for this Eraser. If he hadn't opened his mouth, he wouldn't be second on my "I Hate You" list. Chance was still first.

"Like I said," the Eraser answered, "I didn't want to. _They_ made me do it."

That made absolutely no sense to me, but Max seemed to recognize him. "Ari?" she asked.

He flinched. "No. He was the first of us. He helped us escape..." he shuddered, as if remembering, "But he didn't make it. Eventually, _They_ caught us, made us come back. I hadn't seen anyone who could help me get out until now."

We were silent for a long time, trying to find holes in his story. Finally, Angel said, "He's telling the truth." Max visibly relaxed.

"So how are we going to get out?" Shelton asked.

Max smiled evilly. "I have a plan."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **3rd Person**

"Subject 89A64 has spent a lot of time in that lab," one of the scientists reported.

Jeb Batchelder bit his lip. Now wasn't the time for small talk! He _had_ to get the Brennan girl out of there before Dr. Howard came looking for her.

"You shouldn't worry about Brennan," a voice said behind Jeb. "She _always_ makes rash decisions."

 _Just like Max,_ Jeb thought as he turned to face Dr. Karsten, who was one of the few scientists who was actually successful. And he was right.

"Is the experiment ready yet?"

Dr. Karsten nodded. "Anytime."

Just then, Subject 89A64 walked into the room. "What were you doing?" Jeb wheeled on him. "What took you so long?"

"Relax." Oddly, the Eraser was calm, despite Jeb's outburst. "I helped speed things up."

"By talking." Dr. Karsten made it sound ridiculous.

The Eraser nodded. He grinned madly, revealing his canine fangs. "I got them to trust me."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Max's P.O.V.**

 _Whack._ "Stupid metal crap!"

Everyone watched as I repeatedly tried to break out of my cage. It had never worked before, but it was worth a try.

The Virals decided not to flare yet. Not until Tory was at full strength, which hopefully wouldn't be much longer.

"You sure this will work?" Shelton tugged at his earlobe. Nervous habit, I guessed.

"No." No sense in trying to hide the truth. "By the way, Tory, what happened back there? What did they make you do?"

Tory looked at Ben, then quickly looked away. "Some treadmill thing."

I stared. "The whole time?"

"No. They also put me in a bunch of maze things, and shocked me if I got too slow. I even flared once."

That was a lot to go through. I hadn't noticed before, but Tory had burn marks, exactly the size of a quarter, all over her arms and legs.

I decided I liked Tory.

"Someone's coming," Iggy said. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps and voices coming toward us.

The door opened, and _Jeb_ walked in, flanked by three Erasers. Someone I didn't recognize followed, and the Virals all gasped. "Dr. Karsten?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Tory's P.O.V.**

Dr. Marcus Karsten.

Images flashed through my mind. Coop in a cage very similar to this one, an IV bag attached. Karsten, his face burning with anger. Karsten's dead weight hitting the bunker floor. Four men, struggling to carry a bundle containing Dr. Karsten's body, into a boat.

"What…How…But we saw…We heard…" My voice failed me.

Karsten had the nerve to smile. "Hello again, Tory. Shelton. Benjamin. Hiram."

Beside me, Cooper growled. Karsten's smile momentarily wavered. "Hello, mutt."

The other scientist walked over to Max's cage, genuine sympathy showing on his face. "Max. How nice it is to see you again."

Max rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Spare me the sympathy, Jeb." She looked at Karsten. "You know this creep, Tory?"

"Sadly, yes. Karsten created the virus and gave it to Coop who in turn passed it on to us." I glanced at Karsten. "Except he was shot and died about a year ago."

Karsten shrugged. "I wasn't killed, Victoria." I flinched. "The men had been sent to bring me here."

"They wanted to recruit you." The pieces were swirling in my head, creating a terrifying puzzle. "You were about to destroy what information you had left.

"But you didn't finish covering your tracks, Karsten." I was fired up now. "You managed to avoid the police, but you weren't able to avoid the Virals."

Karsten's face paled. "The flash drive."

I nodded. Before Karsten could flip out, the other scientist (was his name really Jeb?) placed a hand on Karsten's shoulder. "The girl is lying," he said. "Soon before my men found you, they searched your office and found nothing."

He was so sure of himself, I decided to keep quiet.

Karsten grinned, color returning to his face. "Yes of course. But enough talking! Let's do what we came here for."

The Erasers walked over to Ben's cage. Two of them picked it up, while the other followed behind. Ben thrashed around, trying to break free. One Eraser snarled at him. Ben answered by growling so ferociously that the Erasers dropped his cage and ran away without looking back. In one swift motion, Ben kicked his cage door open.

Karsten and Jeb backed off nervously. I couldn't blame them; when Ben turned towards me, his eyes were glowing dark gold. "Join me?" he asked.

 **SNAP.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Max's P.O.V.**

I inhaled sharply. Ben's eyes were now a dark gold.

Tory reached for Ben's hand, then shuddered. Ben caught her hand and dragged her out.

"Thanks," Tory muttered. I noticed her eyes were the _exact same_ color as Ben's. Creepy.

Together, Tory and Ben managed to get us all free. By that time, Jeb and Karsten had left the room, but alarms were blaring through the School. No doubt there were Erasers on their way to the room.

"We really need to leave," I said. The others nodded in agreement.

"But where will we go?" Hi asked.

"We'll figure that out later." In truth, I didn't know where the Virals would go.

We didn't get very far before we ran into a group of Flyboys.

"Mechanical Erasers?" Tory asked.

I nodded. Soon, the Flyboys were nothing but a pile of wires and other gross things.

We made it out alive and in one piece. I was surprised with what I saw.

"This isn't the School," I murmured. On the building were the words 'Institute for Higher Genetics' and below that 'Cottageville, South Carolina.'

There were several parked cars in the lot.

"Cottageville!" Tory exclaimed. "That's not too far from Charleston!"

"Great," I said sadly. "So this is goodbye, I guess. For now."

Tory and I shook hands. "Stay safe."

"You too."

The last thing I saw were the Virals driving away in a stolen car.

"Should we go to your mom's house?" Nudge asked.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Let's go!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 11**

 **Max**

"I'm sorry, Max. I really am." My mother tried to comfort me as I took in the previous events. Jeb, my father, our savior, had deserted us again.

"It's okay," I said, trying to hide my tears. _The flock comes first,_ I reminded myself.

"Max." Mom chose her words carefully. "You said these kids were from Charleston?"

I nodded.

"Then that's where we'll go."

Fang looked at Mom, then at me. "Are you sure?"

I nodded again. "Fine by me. I want to keep an eye on them."

"Then it's settled: we're moving to Charleston."

I asked, "Right now?"

Mom laughed. "You've packed already?"

The flock, Ella, and Mom laughed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 12**

 **Ben**

"Five hours?" I didn't believe it. "We were only gone for _five hours?"_

"Relax, Ben." Tory placed her hand on my shoulder. "We're okay. That's what matters."

As much as I liked times like this, I needed to ask her something. "Tory? What happened in the van?"

She took a moment to process her thoughts. "My flare just came. Without warning. I didn't even _try_ to flare. And then it suddenly went whacko." She rubbed her head. "It hurt. Real bad."

"You're okay now?"

Tory nodded. "It hasn't _flared_ up since." She smirked at her own choice of words. "But I keep thinking about it. Why didn't it happen to you guys? Why just me?"

I couldn't answer that right away. But then I thought about the Institute for Advanced Genetics. How the Erasers had attacked mercilessly. And how they'd taken Tory.

"Tory." I hoped I was wrong. "Do you remember anything about what they did to you at the Institute? When they took you away?"

"I—" she faltered. "I can't remember. It's really weird, like I should know, but I can't."

That confirmed it. "They did something to you," I growled. "They're behind this."

"Ben! We can't jump to conclusions. It could be my flare adjusting or something." I could tell she didn't believe her own words. "But I'm not going to let it slow me down. I'd be stupid to allow it."

I grinned. _"That's_ the Tory I know!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 13**

 **Ella**

"Hey, mom?" I asked. "Do you know where Max went?"

She replied, "I think she and the flock went flying somewhere."

"Okay, thanks!"

I went up to my room, though once there, my happiness was replaced by envy. _I_ wanted wings! Max said it would hurt and that she envies me for having a normal life. But I've always dreamed of flying, even though I knew it was impossible. Then Max came to our home. She gave me hope that my dream, childish as it is, could actually happen.

But I also envied Tory. She had _some_ kind of super power; she and her Morris Island friends. Whatever it was, it looked awesome. Tory had been able to escape from that psychopath Detective Hawfield using her powers. Then, she and her friends came back and rescued me. I was grateful (it's not every day your best friend shows up with superpowers) but I felt even lonelier. First Max, and now Tory proved to be not entirely human. I was still 100% human.

 **All caught up!**


	13. sorry

I'm sorry, guys! I don't want to do this, but I'm going to.

I'm going to take a break from posting stuff. I'll still be on occasionally, but I won't post any new chapters for a while.

PM me if you want to talk about it.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 **Tory**

"Tory," Ella asked, "do you think you could come over to my house after school for a bit today?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"And bring the guys too, if you want."

"Okay." It was a little weird for Ella to say that, but I let it pass.

Hi took the news best. "Ella asked _me_ to visit her?"

"All of us," I said. "I have no idea what for."

Ben shrugged. "Might as well go."

That afternoon, the four of us met up with Ella, who led us to her house. "My dad isn't home," she explained. "He's working in California right now, but my mom's home."

Just then, six silhouettes spiraled closer and closer to us. "What are they?" Hi wondered.

The leader was... a girl with large wings. "It's the flock," I said. "They're here." Then I yelled "Max!"

 **I'm back! And school's out!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 **Max**

My eyes widened as I recognized who Ella was with. "Tory!" I swooped down, landing next to her. "What are you doing here?"

"What am **I** doing here? I _live_ in Charleston. What are you guys doing here?"

"I guess you can say we've moved in with my half-sister." I nodded at Ella.

"Half-sister?" Tory looked between me and Ella. "Since when?"

Ella said, "Max found my mom and me about a year ago, but a few months later she returned with the flock when she found out we shared the same mother."

"Sounds like we've got a lot to talk about," Ben said, finally getting over his shock.

Ella nodded. "Come inside." As she walked in, she yelled, "Mom! The Virals are here!"

 **A/N I didn't say this last time, but thank you sixsilverhawk (guest) for reviewing!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15- Tory**

"I still can't believe you two are related," I said to Ella.

"I can't believe it was you guys who were captured with the flock," she replied. "Or that you're also mutants."

I could tell that last part upset her. After meeting Max, she probably wanted to fly. When Max returned, this time with others like her, Ella must've wanted to fly with them more than anything. Then she and I became friends, and I turned out not to be normal either.

I apologized, "I'm sorry for not telling you. Especially after our little incident last month."

"It's okay. It's just—" She sniffled. "I thought I had found a friend who was normal."

Had someone else said that, I would've been offended, but I understood. "This doesn't change our friendship, right?"

Ella hugged me. "Not at all."


End file.
